Lawyers and small law practices
A law practice reviews drafts with clients and bills the hours on each matter.
Consultants
Clients book a discovery call and sign the engagement online. Their action plan shows every goal and step in their own portal.
A consultant working alone uses Magpie in Personal. A firm and its consultants can work in one Magpie team.
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This combination of seven Magpie areas fits a consultant.
- Meetings
- Meetings gives prospects a page to book a discovery call in your free times.
- Proposals
- Proposals quotes the engagement at your day rate, and the client signs it online.
- Client Portal
- Client Portal shares each client's action plan, with its goals, steps and next call.
- Documents
- Documents holds your report, which the client's people comment on and mark up.
- Presentations
- Presentations builds the deck you present, then share by link or as a PDF.
- Time Tracking
- Time Tracking records your hours on each engagement, against its budget.
- Invoicing
- Invoicing bills the deposit on signing and the rest when you deliver.
Prospects book a discovery call in the times you are free.
Meetings is your own meeting page. It offers a Meeting Type such as a 30-minute discovery call, in the hours you set. Prospects choose a time in their own time zone.
Times that clash with your calendar or a connected Google Calendar are not offered. With Zoom connected, each call gets its own Zoom link.
The client signs your engagement online, and the deposit is invoiced at once.
Proposals turns your scope and fees into a proposal the client signs online. Magpie's consulting starter prices the days at your day rate. The written recommendation is its own line. The client can add follow-up sessions by the hour.
You can see each time the proposal is opened. When the client signs, the deposit invoice is issued, and they can pay it by card.
Each client follows the action plan in their own portal, and ticks off their steps.
Client Portal gives each client a private page. A plan sets out the engagement's goals, such as a revenue target. Its stages hold the steps to reach them, each for you or for the client.
The client ticks their own steps and can record where a goal stands. You can save your process as a starter for the next engagement.
The client's people comment on your report, and you accept or reject their wording.
Documents is where you write the report. You share the draft with the client's stakeholders to review. They comment on your findings and suggest new wording, and nothing changes until you accept it.
A named version, such as Draft for the steering group, can be restored later. Word files keep their comments and tracked changes, in and out.
You present your recommendations full screen, and leave the deck behind as a link.
Presentations builds the deck for the leadership team, with text, images, shapes and arrows. Present opens it full screen in a new tab, without editing controls.
Publishing fixes a version that anyone with the link can read, without signing in. Export PDF makes a PDF to send after the meeting.
Your hours on each engagement are recorded at the client's rate, against a budget.
Time Tracking records your hours on each client's project, with a timer or by hand. When the client signs, Magpie can make the engagement's project. Its hourly lines set the rate and the budget.
Each project shows the hours used against its budget. Reports total the billable amount by client, and export as CSV.
Magpie bills the rest when you deliver, and your follow-up hours as you go.
Invoicing bills the proposal's final payment when you choose, for whatever is left. Follow-up sessions you record go on an invoice with Add unbilled time.
Travel you record as a reimbursable expense can go on it too. Clients pay by card into your own Stripe account, with no Magpie fee.
Six more areas cover agreements, signatures, clients, expenses, newsletters and books.
- Agreements
- Agreements fills in a published mutual NDA or services agreement with your answers, word for word.
- E-Signatures
- E-Signatures sends any PDF for signature, such as a client's own contract.
- Contacts
- Contacts keeps each client's proposals, invoices, agreements and calls on one page.
- Expenses
- Expenses records travel and other costs for a client, to bill on their invoice.
- Newsletter
- Newsletter emails each issue to your subscribers, and keeps a copy on the web.
- Accounting
- Accounting keeps your books, with your invoices and payments already in them.
An engagement goes from a discovery call to a paid final invoice.
The client's portal shows them where the engagement stands.
The call
A prospect books a discovery call on your meeting page.
The proposal
You send the engagement proposal, and the client signs it online.
The deposit
The deposit invoice is issued on signing, and the client pays it by card.
The kickoff
Magpie can make the project, share the proposal in their portal and offer a kickoff call.
The plan
You share the action plan, and the client ticks off their steps.
The report
The client's people review your report, and you present the deck.
The final invoice
You bill the final payment, and the client pays it by card.
Setting up takes five steps.
Open your meeting page
You set your weekly hours and add a discovery call. Help: Set up and share your meeting page.
Connect Zoom
You connect Zoom, so each call gets its own link. Help: Connect Zoom.
Connect Stripe
You connect your Stripe account, so clients can pay by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.
Set your day rate
You open the consulting starter, set your day rate and deposit, and save it. Help: Proposal starters, saved sections and the price list.
Save your process
You make a starter plan with your stages, steps and goals. Help: Reuse your process with starter plans.
Plans
A consultant working alone fits Pro, for your own work in Personal. A firm fits the Team plan, one price for up to 25 members.
On the free plan, you can offer 2 Meeting Types, send 5 proposals and create 5 invoices a month.
Magpie adds no fee to invoice payments. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each. Prices are on the Pricing page.
Other professionals who advise clients have pages of their own.
Accountants and bookkeepers
An accounting practice bills a monthly fee and works in clients' books.
Small agencies (design, marketing, development; 3 to 15 people)
An agency runs several clients' projects at once, with a team.
Questions consultants ask
Can prospects book a discovery call with me?
Yes. Your meeting page lists your Meeting Types, such as a 30-minute discovery call. Prospects choose one of your free times in their own time zone. Times taken in your calendar or a connected Google Calendar are not offered. Each call can get its own Zoom link.
Can I quote a day rate and take a deposit?
Yes. The consulting starter prices the engagement in days at your day rate. The written recommendation is a line of its own, and follow-up sessions an hourly option. The starter asks for half as a deposit when the client signs. You can change every line and the deposit.
Can the client sign the proposal online?
Yes. The client chooses any options, then signs with a drawn or typed signature. Magpie emails everyone the signed PDF and a signing certificate. Several people at the client can each sign.
Will I know when the client opens my proposal?
Yes. The proposal's activity lists each time it was opened, and by whom. Questions, changed choices and signatures are listed there too.
Can I send a mutual NDA before the first workshop?
Yes. Agreements has mutual NDAs from Common Paper, Bonterms and oneNDA. You answer its questions, and the publisher's text fills in. Send for signature sends it to each party to sign. Magpie is not a law firm, so have a lawyer review it.
Can I share an action plan with goals the client can see?
Yes. A plan in the client's portal has goals, such as a revenue target or a launch. Its stages hold the steps, each for you or the client, with a due date. The client ticks their steps and records where a goal stands.
Can I reuse my process for every engagement?
Yes. You save a plan as a starter, with its goals, stages and steps. A new plan from it sets each due date that many days from today. Changing a starter leaves the plans already made from it as they are.
Can the client comment on my report before it is final?
Yes. You share the document with the client's people as reviewers. They comment on the text and suggest new wording. You accept or reject each suggestion, and save named versions as you go.
Can I work on a report in Word?
Yes. Importing a Word file brings its comments in as comments and its tracked changes as suggestions. Export DOCX writes the comments back into the Word file. Export clean DOCX leaves them out.
Can I present my recommendations from Magpie?
Yes. Present opens the deck full screen in a new tab, and hidden slides are skipped. Once you publish the deck, its link opens for anyone without signing in. Export PDF makes one page for each slide.
Can the client join our calls from their portal?
Yes. You share a meeting in their portal, and it shows under Meetings with its time. The next one is on their Overview too. Join meeting appears beside a call with a Zoom or Google Meet link.
Can I bill follow-up sessions by the hour?
Yes. You record the sessions in Time Tracking, on the client's project, at its rate. Add unbilled time puts them on an invoice as lines. Time on an issued invoice is locked.
Can I bill a monthly retainer after the engagement?
Yes. A monthly line in an accepted proposal starts a recurring invoice. The client can save a card when they sign, and each invoice is charged to it.
Can I pass travel costs on to the client?
Yes. You record the cost in Expenses, mark it reimbursable and choose the client. Add unbilled expenses puts it on their invoice. It is marked billed when the invoice is issued.
What does Magpie take from my clients' payments?
Magpie adds no fee to invoice payments. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. The rest goes to your own Stripe account.
Run your next engagement in Magpie.
Create a Magpie account and add your discovery call.